Three medical marijuana caregivers are ready to open a shop for their patients now that the Ferndale City Council has approved their plan.

Adam Applebaum, CEO of Meridian Wellness, told city council members he and two other caregivers will service up to five patients each, as allowed under the state’s medical marijuana law.

Patients would be serviced by appointment and the facility would host educational seminars and other meetings, Applebaum said.

“It is very hard for a patient to get matched with a caregiver,” he said Monday, adding that some patients are hesitant to have caregivers come to their homes. “This way we can facilitate a neutral ground with security.”

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Applebaum and his partners want to open their facility in a vacant party store at 1915 E. Nine Mile Road, several blocks west of Interstate 75.

No marijuana use would be allowed at the facility and only the caregivers’ patients would be allowed to buy marijuana there, he said.

City Attorney Daniel Christ told council members that state law also prohibits any marijuana sales between patients.

The caregivers will store medical marijuana at the location in safes, but will not grow any marijuana there, according to Derek Delacourt, head of Ferndale’s economic and community development department.

Applebaum and his two partners filed an application to open their caregiver facility and were given special land use approval by the city Planning Commission after the plan was reviewed by city police and staff members.

“It will be a wellness facility with medical marijuana,” Applebaum said. “We want to be in accordance with all the laws.”

Conditions of a contract between the city and the facility limits the operation to no more than three caregivers and up to 15 patients. Any suspected violations of operations would be handled by the city police, the city attorney or the code enforcement department, Delacourt told city council members.

Meridian Wellness has no other locations and will not be a dispensary to any medical marijuana patients other than those registered with one of the three caregivers, Applebaum said.

Four years ago, a marijuana dispensary open to all medical marijuana patients in Ferndale was raided by Oakland County Sheriff’s undercover narcotics agents. The facility, Clinical Relief, was on Hilton Road and seven owners and employees of the operation are still fighting marijuana charges in court.